Tuesday, April 20, 2010

If you're living with kids, you know they have special needs. Those needs should extend to your preparedness efforts. When you're prepping, keep the children in mind and stock stuff to take care of their needs. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking.

Have a baby? Diapers, wipes, baby foods, formula (yes, even if you're nursing, something may happen to you and how is Dad going to feed the baby?), extra blankets and warm clothing, baby medicines, diaper rash ointment, clothes the next size up. I'll be honest, with the price of diapers I was never very good at having a lot on hand. Maybe have some cloth diapers just in case. I can't remember the disaster, but I remember news coverage of looters and some were running out of the store with DIAPERS! Serious business--for your own safety and sanity you don't want to have to be running to the store during or after an emergency to pick up anything. Even diapers.

Bigger kids? Pullups for the bed wetters even if they don't usually wear them--you don't want to have to be doing all that laundry by hand if you can help it. Size up clothes and shoes, comfort foods, kid medication. Once the kids reach a certain age, you can start chopping a regular tylenol in half, but if you've got kids that need the chew kind, make sure you have some on hand. A big one with kids is to stock foods they like to eat. That means not all rice and beans and wheat. It's nice to add a little normalcy to an emergency by stocking some spaghettio's or whatever their favorites are and being able to pull them out when things are crazy.

Teenagers? I really don't know. My oldest is 10. But I'd still go with stocking clothes and shoes a size or two up for them if they're still growing. And they eat a lot--actually sometimes more than adults, so make sure to take that into consideration when you're calculating meals and how much food to store.

We'll cover boredom busters in another post. Any other ideas of things to have on hand for kids needs?

3 comments:

Just became a grandma 6 months ago and was concerned about storing diapers. I found 2 great cloth diapers. The brands are Happy Heinys and Bum Genius. A little difference in cost but they are designed so they can grow with the baby, last forever and have come a LONG way since my days of being a young mom. Great for storage. Canned them in #10 cans :)

I have five sons, all grown now, most with kids of their own. Let me tell you about teens. They're big, loud and always hungry. Large amounts of jerky, snack bars, boxes of Mac n cheese and pizza fix'ns will keep you sane. You worry about regular meals, let the teens feed themselves between. This teaches them to cook. Just be sure to make them clean up, because they all think they have a maid, or something. Gamers shops have these neat "pocket games". Almost like cards, but geniusly different little games about the same size as a deck. Some are so silly they are hysterical. Teens love them when not sleeping all over the living room or eating you out of house and home.